If you’re frequently around bass fish, you’d want to know what’s inside their mouth. Is it razor sharp teeth? no teeth at all with just a grabbing mouth? or maybe a few fangs like reptiles?
Luckily, marine biologists took their time studying the eating habits of bass. Which naturally involves how their teeth are set. To be frank, most of that information was already known among fishermen. And it was passed from generation to generation.
For those of us who weren’t around the scientists or the seasoned seafarers, this article has the full answer. If you were wondering, do bass have teeth? Read on!
Why Do We Need to Know if Bass Have Teeth?
Two people deal with a bass fish up close and personal: a chef and a fisherman. The first handles the bass while it’s relatively harmless, unlike the latter who might as well confront the moving teeth.
Bass fish aren’t sharks. They won’t tear fingers to pieces, but they do cause some damages. The ‘bass thumb’ didn’t become a thing for no reason. The various types of bass often differ in the size of their mouths, but they all have one thing in common: small sharp teeth.
To avoid the nasty bite, you might as well explore the bass’ mouth. This would help significantly in handling the bass properly. It would guarantee dodging the scratched skin, taking a happy vanity photo with the day’s catch, and keeping the bass unharmed.
Most fishermen return their prized catch back into the water, once they conquered the challenge. But damaging the fish’s mouth, even a little, would compromise its feeding capability significantly. This would hurt its chances of survival for no good reason at all. It’s best to handle it well from the outset.
To know more about the bass’ teeth, it’s best to start with how it feeds. Nature is quite creative with giving each animal the right toolset for the job at hand.
Are Bass Fish Hunters?
A shark is a hunter, while a blue whale is not. Hunters often have a mechanism that helps in trapping and killing their prey. The bass are seasoned hunters who are quite savvy in the arts of hiding, ambushing, and attacking.
To facilitate the process, they have two sets of teeth: the first is external and the second is a bit deeper down their throat. The outward teeth latch to the prey, and make it almost impossible for it to pull away. The next set of teeth crush the prey to pieces. It’s a nasty business in there!
The next logical question is what do these savvy hunters eat?
What Do Bass Fish Eat?
There are many types of bass fish, with noticeable variation in the size of their mouths. It’s expected then to see different eating habits related to each size.
Here are some of the more interesting bass fish. They’re also what you’d most probably come across while fishing.
Largemouth Bass
The largemouth bass is probably the rockstar of bass fish. It’s the biggest feeder, the more abundant types, and eventually, the one that gets caught more often.
As the name implies, it has a big mouth. Inside that gaping hole, there’s the typical set of sandpaper teeth. They don’t point upwards as people might imagine, they are twisted towards the inside of the mouth.
This helps in getting a strong hold of the prey, and impeding its pedaling back to safety. Once inside it only keeps proceeding. The next set of teeth is far sharper. At this stage, the prey wouldn’t be cut up, but rather crushed, by the combined effect of the mighty jaws and the numerous pointy teeth.
An adult largemouth bass would eat pretty much anything, from fellow fish, to shellfish, terrestrial invertebrates that fall into its pond, and the odd reptiles it comes across from time to time. They are known to gobble up crayfish, mice, frogs, and even snakes.
A large enough bass would gladly eat another bass of a similar size.
Smallmouth Bass
The smallmouth bass are quite similar to largemouth bass in their hunting styles, in the way they hide in murkier waters, and in how they gather in schools and hunt in packs.
They often go through a gathering of smaller fish and eat their way through them. After the swift attack, they return a few steps back to feed on the injured or frightened and frozen fish. It’s usually a leisurely feast on the unfortunate prey.
Smallmouth bass was clearly named after the fact that it has a noticeably compact mouth. This dictates the size of prey it could eat. It’s diet is still varied, but it wouldn’t include mice and frogs.
Rock Bass
This is a type of bass with a tiny mouth. It has the same signature teeth, and quite capable of leaving a fisherman with a ‘bass thumb’.
Not surprisingly, its menu is much different from the previous fellows. Fish with a tight mouth, as well as young fish, normally feed on small morsels like minnows, plankton, little critters, and tadpoles that just came out.
Striped Bass
This is a fish that has similar characteristics to all the previous types. Tiny sharp teeth, vicious hunters, and they google up their prey in the same mechanism. Their mouth is almost as big as the smallmouth bass, so they share a similar menu.
What’s intriguing about the striped bass is its head snapping action. It can move its head sideways in a flash. This often results in fishermen being taken unaware of and getting their fingers injured. Handling this guy rests on expecting that swift move and countering it.
Other types of bass are infrequent, so they aren’t closely observed as the above varieties. Some are also very clever at cutting away the lure and getting out of harm’s way. The peacock bass are the perfect example for that. With their tiny teeth and steel jaws.
The Bottom Line
Bass have finely crafted teeth that guarantee them a varied, and ever growing, assortment of food. They eat smaller fish, crey, frogs, insects, and wouldn’t even shy away from eating smaller bass.
But do you know who feeds heavily on bass? Inside the water, they are their own worst enemy. Big bass eat smaller bass. Right beside their pond, larger birds gladly catch bass, and then there are humans. I would just mention that there are hundreds of recipes for cooking bass!